SEDGE FAMILY 



279 



2. Hemicarpha aristulata (Coville) Smyth. 

 Awned Hemicarpha. Fig. 670. 



Hemicarpha micrantha aristulata Coville, Bull. Torrey Club 



21: 36. 1894. 

 Hemicarpha aristulata Smyth, Trans. Kans. Acad. Sci. 16: 



163. 1899. 

 Hemicarpha iutcrmcdia Piper ; Piper & Beattie, Fl. Palouse 



Reg. 36. 1901. 



Annual, similar to the preceding species; culms 

 2 dm. high or less, longer than the setaceous leaves. 

 Leaves of the involucre 1-3, sometimes 2 cm. long; 

 spikelets ovoid, 4-8 mm. long; scales rhombic- 

 obovate, brown, rather abruptly contracted into a 

 subulate, spreading or somewhat recurved awn about 

 as long as the body; style short; achene oblong or 

 narrowly obovate, black. 



Moist soil, Tehama County, California; Almota, Washing- 

 ton; Texas to Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming. Type locality: 

 Te.xas. 



3. Hemicarpha occidentalis A. Gray. , 

 Western Hemicarpha. Fig. 671. 



Hemicarpha occidentalis A. Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 7: 391. 1S67. 



Scirpus occidentalis Clarke, Kew Bull. Add. Ser. 8: 30. 1908, not 

 Chase 1904. 



Annual, diminutive, pale green; culms filiform, tufted, 

 2-4 cm. high. Leaves filiform, as long as the culm or 

 shorter, those of the involucre similar to the lower ones, 

 much exceeding the spikelets ; spikelets subglobose, about 

 2 mm. in diameter, several- to many-flowered ; scales 

 lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, tapering into a spreading 

 awn nearly as long as the body. 



Yosemite Valley, California; Falcon Valley, Washington. 

 Type locality: Yosemite Valley, California. Cyperus infle.vus 

 Muhl. has been mistaken for this plant. 



9. RYNCHOSPORA \ahl, Enuni. 2: 22'). 1806. 



Leafy sedges, mostly perennial by rootstocks, with erect 3-angled or terete culms, narrow, 

 fiat or involute leaves, and ovoid-oblong or fusiform, variously clustered spikelets. Scales 

 thin, 1-nerved, imbricated all around, usually mucronate by the excurrent midvein, the lower 

 empty. Upper flowers imperfect, the lower perfect. Perianth of 1-20 (mostly 6) upwardly 

 or downwardly barbed or scabrous bristles, wanting in some species. Stamens commonly 3. 

 Style 2-cleft, 2-toothed, or rarely entire. Achene lenticular or swollen, not 3-angled, smooth 

 or transversely wrinkled, capped by the persistent base of the style (tubercle), or in some 

 species by the whole style. [Greek, referring to the beak-like tubercle.] 



About 200 species, widely distributed, most abundant in warm regions. Besides the following, some 48 

 other species occur in the southern and eastern United States. Type species, Rynchospora aurca Vahl. 



Spikelets nearly white; bristles 9-15. 

 Spikelets brown; bristles about 6. 



1. 7?. alba. 



2. R. capitellata. 



